Control Your Self, Control Mara

Our self or I is ego. ‘Ego’ is the Latin word for I = self-importance. Ego is consciousness clinging to ideas about likes and dislikes. Because ego is based on these negative emotions of likes and dislikes – which are impermanent constructs – it is has no true reality. This is Mara activity.

Mara is demonic mind, lying in ambush to attack or defend, and promote its self-importance. It’s walking around everywhere.

There’s no point in reacting to Mara as it has no reality. This is why we just need to be compassionate to its appearance. This either pacifies Mara, or annoys it so that it goes away to annoy someone else. 🙂

Mara is our teacher precisely because whatever comes our way is karma. In this way, we remain positive in negativity. Again, this is the inseparability of the two truths – absolute and relative.

It is the clarity of pure consciousness that notes this darkness. Clarity means divine splendour.

Mara shows us how we are both light and dark – two sides of the same coin – good and evil. This understanding is our path to enlightenment, remembering that Mara does not actually exist.

Evil is merely our intention to gain self-importance, driven by negative emotions of pride, jealousy, fear, desire, all of which based on ignorance of our true being of divine luminosity.

Scripture is a tool for clarity and inner harmony,
and not a weapon for conflict
as we see in the world at this very moment.